Spicy Chickpeas and Sweet Potato Salad Bowl

Not just a healthy bowl of nutrition but every fork-full of this sweet potato salad has something delicious to offer!

Posted By
Savita

Count on a veggie bowl like this one to pick-you-up for starting a fabulous week! GF

Starting Monday with meatless mighty spicy Chickpea and Sweet Potato Salad Bowl which will make you eat healthy, close to nature without much effort.

This sweet, spicy and savory Chickpea and Sweet Potato Bowl has everything you need for a delicious and nutritious lite winter meal. Veggie protein of chickpeas, nutrition of sweet potato, kale, and crunch of turnips, and probiotic and antioxidants of herb yogurt dressing.

Even if you are not in mood of a healthy bowl, I can tell you there is nothing boring in this bowl. From spiced chickpeas to sauted kale... every bite of this salad has something delicious to offer.

My love chickpeas is not hidden from you all. I'm always looking new ways to include more chickpeas in my weeknight menu. I was not so surprised when I saw last month, same day I shared Vegan Chickpea Curry with you :) That is totally coincidental but I kinda like it. At least one chickpea dish per month? What do you say? Well, I make more than one every month than why not you too get the recipe?

This chickpea and sweet potato salad bowl also is here for my love of kale. I have another amazing recipe on blog which feature chickpea-kale combo - Warm Kale and Chickpea Salad with Tahini Dressing! I dig that chickpea bowl so much that last weekend I decided to make it again. Just after cooking chickpeas, I realized, I don't have tahini paste in pantry. So, that gave me option to be little creative and this amazing bowl is the outcome! I quickly clicked a few pictures before serving so that you guys can too enjoy a healthy bowl for lunch or dinner this week.

Theme for this bowl is sweet, sour, spicy, garlicky and earthy with all natural ingredients.

For sweetness I diced to roast some sweet potatoes (can never go wrong with sweet potatoes) and added some raisins.

For crunch, I added cucumber, toasted cashews, and raw turnip.

If you planning to serve this bowl later say next day or after few hours, I recommend packing cucumber and herb yogurt separate. Mix it in just before eating. Since both are served cold, you can even mix cucumber in yogurt and pack in one container. Pack rest of the bowl, chickpeas, kale, sweet potato in one container so you can warm these before eating.

On the hand, this chickpea bowl is also great when served at room temperature. If planning to do so, just mix in everything, pack and refrigerate. Take is out of fridge 30 minutes before serving. (this time will vary based on weather condition. In hot weather, leave out for lesser time so that yogurt does not go bad.)

I like to enjoy some sweetness of sweet potato whole year long. One of my other favorite sweet potato salad recipe is here. If you roast a few extra, you can even enjoy some sweet potato waffles for breakfast.

Cooking sweet potatoes is as easy as cooking potatoes. I mean it really! Both, sweet potato and potato are root vegetable which can be cooked pretty much the same way. So, if you can boil perfect potato.. you can boil a perfect sweet potato as well. Just make sure to cook until these are knife tender. Let them cool until easy to handle. Then peel of the skin and let cool completely. Use as suggested in the recipe... Such as diced for salads, mashed for mashed sweet potatoes or pancakes, or chopped/crushed for hash.

Easy!! Right?

Oh, you can also oven or pan roast chickpeas like I did for this recipe. Roasting makes these root veggies sweeter and enhance the flavor.

So, let's get cooking! Hunt some chickpeas from pantry, cook a sweet potato and serve this delicious salad bowl for next meal!

Spicy Chickpeas and Sweet Potato Salad Bowl

Total Time 35 minutesPrep Time 10 minutesCook Time 25 minutesDifficultyEasyYields6-8 Cup SaladServes4

Ingredients

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Bowl

1 lbs
Sweet Potato
(1 large or 2 medium, peeled, small diced)

2 Cup
Chickpeas
(cooked, or 16 ounce can, rinsed)

1 Bunch
Kale
(dino kale, washed and thin sliced)

1
Cucumber
(small diced)

2-3
Green Onion
(small chopped, green and white seperate)

10-12
Cashew
(toasted)

1.5 tbsp
Olive Oil

2 tsp
Cajon Seasoning
(or zatar seasoning)

1/4 Cup
Raisins
(optional)

Yogurt Dressing

1/4 Cup
Mint

1/4 Cup
Parsley
(or cilantro)

Salt and Black Pepper

1 Cup
Yogurt
(non-fat greek yogurt)

1
Garlic
(clove)

1
Lemon
(juice and zest, divided)

Directions

1.
To make yogurt dressing, in food processor combine - yogurt, garlic, 1 tbsp. lemon juice, mint, parsley and generous 1 pinch of salt and 1 pinch of black pepper. Pulse to combine. Taste and adjust salt, black pepper, and lemon juice. Set aside. (Dressing is slightly on tangy side which pairs well with sweet potatoes and spicy chickpeas)

2.
Pre heat oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread diced sweet potato on a baking sheet and season with 1 tbsp. olive oil, salt and black pepper. Roast in heated oven for 20 minutes or until sweet potato is soft yet not mushy. Let it cool slightly, then remove in a bowl and set aside.

Additional Notes

Sweet potatoes can be cooked a day in advance.

3.
In a pan, add 1/2 tbsp of oil, add white part of green onion and saute until soft (1 minute). Add chickpeas, and kale with cajon seasoning, pinch of salt and black pepper Saute until kale is soft and onion take of color of seasoning. (2-3 minutes) Now, mix in 1 tbsp of lemon juice.